


Tired of Singing the Blues

by screwedupandglamorous



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types
Genre: Age Difference, Canon Related, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-22
Updated: 2014-01-22
Packaged: 2018-01-03 13:23:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1070965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screwedupandglamorous/pseuds/screwedupandglamorous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of one magnificent man and a strange Italian girl who changed the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. December, 1991

**Author's Note:**

> Just a few warnings, Maria is twenty-one years younger than Howard. This is of course so it would be more realistic when they later on conceived Tony.  
> As the chapters go on, I'll continue to add more characters and whatnot to the tags when they appear.

“What are you doing?”

“Telephoning Anthony.”

“Stop bothering with the kid, he’s made it clear he doesn’t want to come”, Howard told her – his voice clearly agitated – waving his hand with a dismissive gesture. A small sigh escaped Maria’s lips as she glanced down at her nylon-wrapped knees.

“I know, but… This is important to you.”

“The boy is selfish Maria. He’ll learn someday.”

“Okay”, she nodded singularly and turned her head to look out of the car window, admiring the way the raindrops slipped so gracefully down the window. Eight days till Christmas and the last seven had been non-stop rain. The newspapers had said numerous times it would have cleared up by now, but people’s hopes were starting wear thin.

By coincidence, a sharp clap of thunder echoed through their ears, and a blazing streak of lightning lit up the night sky. Maria flinched, and Howard simply chuckled at his wife’s easy fear.

 

“Are you sure this benefit dinner hasn’t been cancelled?” She asked, her voice not as soft as it was before.

“I would have been the first they notified if it had.” He turned to look at her, his blue eyes stood out from the shadows in the car, and Maria felt her cheeks heat up as she noticed him watching her.

“Stop it… Concentrate on the road”, she told him in-between chuckles.

“But doll, how can I with a broad like you next to me.”

“At ease, soldier”, Maria’s giggles turned into laughter at the cheesiness of their teasing. Howard too laughed, and one hand broke contact with the steering wheel to land on his wife’s knee, giving it a gentle squeeze. Thrills were sent up through Maria’s spine, and she bit the inside of her lip to hold back any other childish giggles.

 

“Do you remember… Back in ’64 when we went to Hawaii?”

“And you had me wear that ridiculous swimsuit? Yes.”

“I was going to say that picnic on the beach, but that’s a rather lovely memory too”, Howard smirked as he turned to look at her for a second before back to the road. Maria’s powdered cheeks lit up a rosy pink, and she fluttered his hand away.

“I hope you’re not going to be like this at the dinner… I think you forget your age sometimes, Howard,” she crossed her arms loosely over her teal blue sequined dress and smiled.

“Just because I am seventy-four doesn’t mean I’m going to end my days of fun,” he grinned, the wrinkles around his eyes crinkling even more so.

 

Maria turned to look at her husband, this time instead of replying, she watched him. His face may have aged over the years, but his eyes still held that same intensity that made her stomach do flips like they did back in 1956. And his lips, well, Howard’s lips made her feel young again every time they met her own. His signature smirk never faltered either.

 

She remembered when she met him, and straight away it was so clear he was the only one for her. They both knew it, right away. As the years went on, things got difficult as they naturally did, they were faced with more than their fair share of challenges. But then again, they were hardly ever normal. They were the _Starks_. Sometimes Maria would find herself begging Howard to stay, doing her best to remind him of what they had in the beginning. He had been – or still was – charismatic, magnetic, electric and everybody knew it. When he walked in to a room, every woman’s head would turn, and everyone stood up to talk to him. He was like a hybrid, this mix of a man who couldn’t contain himself. She always got the sense Howard was torn between being a good man and missing out on all the opportunities that life could offer a man as magnificent as him. And in that way, Maria understood him, and she loved him. She was the only one, and she really did love him.

 

The words _seventy-four_ echoed throughout Maria’s mind. Her father was only a few years older than Howard when he died long ago. Ever since then the worry and paranoia had been haunting her. At night she would sometimes find herself rolling over to check if he was still breathing. He was like a machine at times. None of their friends from when they were young were still alive, or at least to their knowledge they weren’t. There was no use for Steve anymore. Howard would still awake in the middle of the night saying he’d just had a vision of where to find the man, but it had been decades now. Since Peggy moved back to England in the eighties, they hadn’t heard a word. All of Howard’s war time buddies were either in care homes or in the ground. And there was no need to begin with Maria’s relatives.

 

It was strange seeing Anthony, their son, now at the age of twenty-one. By that age, Howard’s and Maria’s marriage was already two years in. He had so much to give yet never seemed to find the will to do anything with it. Maria prayed Howard was right in what he said.

 

“I can barely see out the window, how are you able to drive in this weather?”

“Oh come on Maria, don’t start that again. We are nearly there. Just a few more blocks and we’ll be safe and in the dry”, he informed her, his voice calm and soothing.

She sank down further into her seat and played with a sequin practically asking to be twisted off.

“Wait isn’t that truck is in the wrong la-.”

 

Howard coughed a couple of times, the metallic taste of blood clouding his throat.

“Maria?”, his voice tried so hard to muster, but all he could hear was a high pitched ringing. His eyes forced themselves open, but everything was tinted red.

“Maria?”, he repeated, his arm pushing itself forward to reach for where she was supposed to be sat. The first thing the ripped pads of his fingers met was her hair. Her long dark hair now matted with blood and glass.

She was dead.

“Mari-“, He coughed again and a lump swelled in his throat. The redness from his eyes cleared as they now filled up with tears.

“Maria”, He sobbed – his hand not daring to move from her – resting his forehead against whatever cold piece of metal it was he was on.

He heard footsteps and, struggling to do so, he turned his head to see the dark-clothed figure stood looking at him. The person’s face was covered, but their eyes were visible, those piercing eyes that would scar Howard’s mind for however long he now had left to live.

“Bu-… Buc-.” He recognized those eyes. Ones of which he’d last seen long ago in 1943 before he was sent away to the front lines.

Before another word could leave Howard’s lips, the broad-shouldered figure pulled out a gun from his belt and – without a hint of hesitation – shot a bullet through Howard’s temple.

The assassin then retrieved a mobile phone from his pocket as he began to walk away, the ringing of sirens could be heard in the distance. 

 

**[Text]** Mission complete. S is dead.


	2. June, 1956

__

_Well, since my baby left me,_

_I’ve found a new place to dwell._

_It’s down at the end of the lonely street,_

_At heartbreak hotel._

 

Once she began to sing, the whole room fell silent. They always did, she typically assumed it was because that was the decent thing to do when somebody was performing. But really it was because they wanted to listen to  _her._ Maria had been told her voice had a significant sadness in it, one that captivated men’s hearts and brought a tear to the eye of many women. She usually just thought people were being nice.

 

_You make me so lonely baby,_

_I get so lonely,_

_I get so lonely I could_ **_{_ ** _die_ **_}_ **

 

She closed her eyes when she sang. It was just easiest that way, for her at least. To the audience, it appeared as if she was putting more emotion in to the song, but really she just did it so she didn’t have to see their reactions if it was one of disgust. 

_And although it’s always crowded,_

_You still can find some room._

_Where broken hearted lovers,_

_Do cry away their gloom._

On this particular evening, she wore a long white dress that brushed her toes when she walked. It hugged closely to her figure, and if it were any tighter you may as well be able to see the rim of her stockings. 

_You make me so lonely baby,_

_I get so lonely,_

_I get so lonely I could_ **_{_ ** _die_ **_}_ **

 

Maria enjoyed singing. 

It gave her all the answers nobody else could. 

 

***

 

“Can I have a gin and tonic?”

“Maria, ya’know I can’t serve you, you’re underage.”

“Come on Geoff, I just did four numbers up there”, she pleaded, turning briefly to look at the stage which was now bare.

“I know, an’ you were a kick, a real blast. But I jus-.”

“It’s fine, _mi dispiace_ … Am I allowed to have lemonade at the very least?” Maria offered him a kind smile.

“Comin’ right up”, the bartender gave her a wink and turned to fetch her drink, his deep chuckles echoing behind him.

Maria set herself down on a barstool and rested her elbows on the dark, mahogany wood, an exasperated sigh escaping her red-painted lips.  

Moments later, Geoff returned with a small glass of something that looked entirely different to what she had ordered.

“What’s this?” She inquired as he placed it in front of her.

“Gentleman over there said to give it to you”, he told her, nodding to said gentleman.

Maria took a small sip of the concoction, and her face screwed from the sour taste.

“I thought you couldn’t serve me this sort of stuff?”

“I can’t, bu-… I couldn’t say no to _him_.” Geoff disappeared to serve another guest while Maria attempted another mouthful of her enigmatic drink. While she was swallowing back the third lot of it, the gentleman Geoff had gestured to approached the Italian girl and leant his hip against the bar. Maria’s stomach did about two dozen flips as she recognized the figure before her.

“Hey-“

“ _Oh dio_!” Maria interrupted him, her dark eyes lighting up. The man chuckled.

“You know who I am, guess that makes things a whole lot easier for me”, He smirked, his voice sounding much deeper and cleaner than it did on the radio or news reels.

“ _Si, si_ … Howard Stark, right?” A large, adolescent smile grew across her face.

“Right you are, doll, now would you give me the pleasure of telling me yours?”

“Maria… Maria Carbonell”, she beamed, her accent thick, “It’s an honour to meet you _Signor_ Stark. My family are all fans of yours!”

“Thank you, honey. You can go home and tell them I’m a fan of yours”, Howard grinned, finally sitting on the stool besides her.

“Wha-… Oh, you’re far too kind, _Signor_ Stark. But _grazie_ , that is incredibly sweet of you to say.”

“I only speak the truth, my dear. Now please, call me Howard. There is no need for such formalities between us.”

“As you wish”, she giggled, “ _Grazie_ , uh, for the drink. That was awfully nice of you.”

“I had to get your attention somehow. I was hoping you would notice me watching you singing, but you barely opened your eyes. I’ve only just noticed now how brown they are.”

“Oh, _le mie scuse_ , that’s a habit of mine”, she glanced away as her cheeks lit up a rosy pink.

“No need to, it’s rather fascinating to watch actually.”

Before glancing back at him, Maria’s eyes found themselves admiring his brilliantly tailored suit. One of which – if his reputation was anything to go by – looked as though it had been ripped off by many women before. She let out a small chuckle and pushed the thoughts aside.

“You’re Italian, I noticed”, Howard then said, gesturing to the bartender to bring him another drink.

“ _Si”,_ Maria nodded singularly, somewhat glad he made the correct assumption. She had heard Spanish, French, German, Swedish, Australian, all those ridiculous ones before.

“ _Che bellissimo”,_ he replied, his accent still as American as it could be, “ _Sei la piu bella ragazza Italian ache abbia mai visto.”_

_“Oh Signor, sei lontano per gentile con me”,_ she giggled and looked away, how could he possibly be this complimentary to a mere stranger, “ _Lo sono solo un estraneo.”_

Howard chuckled again and offered her that signature smirk that he’d presented nearly a thousand times in photographs. Before he could whisper anything else to her, Geoff returned with a scotch just as Howard had ordered. He gave the broader gentleman a nod and brought the glass to his lips, his blue eyes fixed on the girl before he threw back a welcomed mouthful.

 

The couple continued to chat mindlessly late in to the evening. Glasses were continuously passed around to the point where their chairs had become so close by one another’s that their knees were packed closely side-by-side.

Howard later accompanied Maria home, but she convinced him to leave her at the end of the street so he wouldn’t have to see what sort of tiny little apartment her family were sharing with two others. Much to his disappointment, he left as she had asked. Although, admittedly that only increased the man’s interest in her. He knew this neighbourhood wasn’t one of the finest, but surely for a girl of such elegance would have nothing to be ashamed of? Soon enough his mind was then clouded on how to get himself home due to his slight intoxication.

As Maria stepped foot in to her home, she was greeted with a sharp ‘ _Shh_!’ by her mother who still appeared to be awake at such a late time.

“ _Mama_ , you’re still-“

“What are you doing coming home this late?” The woman asked, her accent even thicker than her eldest daughter who stood before her.

“ _Le mie scuse, mama._ I was talking with a gentleman and we were not paying attention to a clock.”

“Gentleman? What sort of gentleman?”

“You will not believe me if I say.”

“Tell me, _bambina”,_ she took a few steps forward, minding her pin curls from the low ceiling.

“Howard Stark.” The name alone brought an excited grin to the young girl’s face.

“The inventor?”

“ _Si!”_

“What did he want with _you_?”

“I don’t know. We just spoke and… And he said he _amava_ my singing”, Maria beamed, leaning down to undo the clip to her shoes.

“Did he really?”

“ _Si, si!”_ She exclaimed.

“Maria, _mio amore,_ tell me if he continues to see you. This could be a _stupendo_ thing for our family.”

 

It wasn’t until Maria awoke the next morning she realized the smirk on her mother’s face may not have been as heart-warming as she had originally assumed.

 

 


End file.
